Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Using childhood addresses, researchers found that those who lived in close proximity to the contaminated waterway as children were more likely to report they had been diagnosed with the disease.

Officials are warning residents in St. Louis county about scams targeting people sickened by radiation.

Residents of 21 ZIP codes in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County are now eligible to seek compensation for radiation exposure through a federal program. However, residents of Venice, Madison and Granite City did not make it in the expansion.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley was able to include the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in a major budgetary package.

An expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include 21 Missouri ZIP codes scattered throughout St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.

U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski of Illinois has renewed her push to include parts of the Metro East in federal legislation that would compensate residents for being exposed to radiation from the World War II-era atomic weapons program.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said concerns about cost killed earlier efforts to renew a program for people exposed to radioactive waste. Hawley hopes a new compromise with a lower mandatory spending price tag will finally break through.

Venice, Madison and Granite City have ties to World War II-era production of radioactive materials used by the U.S. Atomic Weapons Commission — just like St. Louis and St. Charles counties in Missouri.

An amendment to the annual defense spending bill fell along party lines in the House Rules Committee. The legislation would have added Missouri ZIP codes to the RECA program.

Speaker Mike Johnson says after consulting with U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, Republican leadership has decided not to hold a vote on a bill that would renew the program without adding new states.